Fetal Deaths
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Fetal death refers to the spontaneous intrauterine death of a fetus at any time during pregnancy. Fetal deaths later in pregnancy (at 20 weeks of gestation or more, or 28 weeks or more, for example) are also sometimes referred to as stillbirths. In the United States, State laws require the reporting of fetal deaths, and Federal law mandates national collection and publication of fetal death data. Most states report fetal deaths of 20 weeks of gestation or more and/or 350 grams birthweight. However, a few states report fetal deaths for all periods of gestation. Fetal death data is published annually by the National Center for Health Statistics, in reports and as individual-record data files.
Publications
- NCHS Data Briefs
- National Vital Statistics Reports
- Vol. 69, No. 4. Cause-of-death Data From the Fetal Death File,2015–2017 pdf icon[PDF – 371 KB]
- Vol. 65, No. 7. Cause of Fetal Death: Data From the Fetal Death Report, 2014 pdf icon[PDF – 600 KB]
- Vol. 64, No. 8. Fetal and Perinatal Mortality: United States, 2013 pdf icon[PDF – 1.4 MB]
- Vol. 60, No. 8. Fetal and Perinatal Mortality, United States, 2006 pdf icon[PDF – 433KB]
- Vol. 57, No. 8. Fetal and Perinatal Mortality, United States, 2005 pdf icon[PDF – 522 KB]
- Vol. 56, No. 3. Fetal and Perinatal Mortality, United States, 2004 pdf icon[PDF – 520 KB]
- Vol. 55, No. 6. Fetal and Perinatal Mortality, United States, 2003 pdf icon[PDF – 590 KB]
- Notice of Error in the 2003 and 2004 Fetal Death Data Files and Reports pdf icon[PDF – 131 KB]
- Health, United States
- Vital and Health Statistics, Series 20
- MMWR on Fetal Mortality pdf icon[PDF – 328 KB]
Micro-data
Methods
- Instruction Manual Part 3b (1989 Revision) pdf icon[PDF – 926 KB]
- Instruction Manual Part 3b Replacement (2003 Revision) pdf icon[PDF – 627 KB]
- Errata Part 2k pdf icon[PDF – 386 KB]
- Instruction Manual Part 2k pdf icon[PDF – 752 KB]
- Instruction Manual Part 11 pdf icon[PDF – 718 KB]
Page last reviewed: April 15, 2020
Content source: National Center for Health Statistics